SMAT

Seattle Music Aptitude Test

This test mainly covers the mid 1980s to the present. It is divided into seven sections, consisting of multiple choice, true and false, and matching questions. The answers appear on the page following the last question. You can also access answers on our Web site, seattleweekly.com. Please, no cheating. Use pencil, pen, or alternative writing instrument. Give yourself one point for each correct answer. Good luck!

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SECTION ONE—Multiple Choice (10 questions)

1. Which band featured the phrase "Visualize Tacoma" on the back of their T-shirt?

(A) Sun City Girls

(B) Seaweed

(C) Dead Moon

(D) Girl Trouble

2. In his song "Viva Sea-Tac," Robyn Hitchcock sings that Seattle has the best:

(A) Salmon, steaks, and coffee

(B) Computers, weather, and cocaine

(C) Computers, coffee, and smack

(D) Music, baseball, and seafood

3. Mark Arm's birth name was:

(A) Fielding Mellish

(B) Mark Armstrong

(C) Mark McLaughlin

(D) Marvin Ambromowicz

4. Rusty Willoughby was in which two bands?

(A) Flop and Afghan Whigs

(B) Flop and Murder City Devils

(C) Flop and Pure Joy

(D) Screaming Trees and the Fastbacks

5. Which of the following bands did NOT appear at 1991's International Pop Convention in Olympia?

(A) Pastels

(B) Bikini Kill

(C) Spinanes

(D) Galaxie 500

6. Which of the following acts did NOT move to Seattle from Arizona?

(A) Supersuckers

(B) Gerald Collier

(C) Alice in Chains

(D) Sun City Girls

7. Which of the following was NOT the title of an Up Records compilation?

(A) Up in Orbit

(B) Stacked Up

(C) Up Next

(D) Up Up and Away

8. Which band played opening night at the Crocodile?

(A) Mudhoney

(B) The Posies

(C) Nirvana

(D) Young Fresh Fellows

9. This artist's 1997 appearance at Bumbershoot caused a mini-riot when fans were shut out of a packed Memorial Stadium, leading to the use of wristbands for future stadium shows:

(A) Sugar Ray

(B) Sheryl Crow

(C) Beck

(D) Blues Traveler

10. Which of the following musicians did NOT appear in the 1992 film Singles?

(A) Tad Doyle

(B) Eddie Vedder

(C) Chris Cornell

(D) Dave Grohl

SECTION TWO—True or False (10 questions)

11. (T or F) The Fastbacks, famous for having many different drummers, were once backed on skins by a member of Guns N' Roses.

12. (T or F) Two of the best-known bands to come out of Olympia, Beat Happening and Sleater-Kinney, have no bass player.

13. (T or F) Bremerton teen punk rockers MxPx auditioned for record company executives in their garage.

14. (T or F) The members of early '90s hit-makers Candlebox were transplants who moved to Seattle to cash in on the grunge phenomena.

15. (T or F) The band Treepeople split up when guitarist Doug Marsch quit to form Built to Spill.

16. (T or F) Alice in Chains' 1994 release Jar of Flies was the first EP to top the Billboard album charts.

17. (T or F) Rapper Sir Mix-A-Lot attempted to emulate the metal-rap synthesis of the Run DMC/Aerosmith hit "Walk This Way" with his own collaboration with Metal Church.

18. (T or F) Pat Smear's adventurous guitar licks are the highlight of the first Foo Fighters CD.

19. (T or F) Sunny Day Real Estate first drew attention with their clever song titles.

20. (T or F) The Accused signed their first recording contract as the token punk band on local rap label Nastymix.

SECTION THREE—Multiple Choice (20 questions)

21. When Nirvana appeared on the cover of Rolling Stone, Kurt Cobain wore a T-shirt that read:

(A) Corporate Rock Still Sucks

(B) Corporate Magazines Still Suck

(C) Pearl Jam Sucks

(D) I * NY

22. The longest running jungle night in Seattle, Pressure, takes place weekly at which club?

(A) Re-bar

(B) Art Bar

(C) The Mercury

(D) ARO.space

23. Kurt Cobain frequently misspelled his name this way:

(A) Kurt Kobane

(B) Curt Kobain

(C) Kurdt Kobain

(D) Kurtt Kobain

24. Kurt Cobain contributed background music for a spoken word album by which of the following artists?

(A) William S. Burroughs

(B) Slim Moon

(C) Henry Rollins

(D) Thurston Moore

25. Which band once featured Shirley Temple's daughter on drums?

(A) Alice in Chains

(B) Bikini Kill

(C) The Melvins

(D) Built to Spill

26. Which was the first Portland band to release a full-length album on Sub Pop?

(A) Pond

(B) Hazel

(C) Sprinkler

(D) The Spinanes

27. Which was the first non-Seattle band to sign an album deal with Sub Pop?

(A) The Fluid

(B) Afghan Whigs

(C) Scud Mountain Boys

(D) Thornetta Davis

28. Before Quasi signed with Up Records, Sam Coomes played in all of the following bands except:

(A) Heatmiser

(B) Donner Party

(C) Motorgoat

(D) Motorhead

29. Unwound most often get compared to this band:

(A) Black Flag

(B) The Meat Puppets

(C) Sonic Youth

(D) The Beatles

30. Influential Seattle dance station KNHC-FM, better known as C-89, is operated and run by:

(A) Seattle Pacific University

(B) Nathan Hale High School

(C) Ballard Eagles Lodge

(D) Roosevelt High School

31. The host of KCMU's Morning Show is:

(A) John Richards

(B) Riz Rollins

(C) Richard Johnson

(D) Pat Cashman

32. What's the name of KCMU's Sunday night hip-hop show?

(A) Street Beatz

(B) Street Life

(C) In the House

(D) Street Sounds

33. Former KNDD DJ Marco Collins is widely credited with breaking this band and song:

(A) Silkworm, "Never Met a Man I Didn't Like"

(B) Nirvana, "Love Buzz"

(C) Soundgarden, "Black Hole Sun"

(D) Harvey Danger, "Flagpole Sitta"

34. DJ Donald Glaude is signed to which well-known dance music label?

(A) Ubiquity

(B) Moonshine

(C) Ninja Tune

(D) Astralwerks

35. Before going to work for Experience Music Project, Candace Pedersen co-owned which record label?

(A) Kill Rock Stars

(B) K

(C) Up

(D) Die Young Stay Pretty

36. Sleater-Kinney's first two records, Sleater-Kinney and Call the Doctor, were released on what label?

(A) Kill Rock Stars

(B) K

(C) Chainsaw

(D) Lookout!

37. The subject of this Beat Happening song was "dark, sweet, and bitter":